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Broadband and Digital TV Boost Windstream’s First-Quarter Profit

6:00 am on May 13, 2008 | Category: Business, Corporate, Internet, Telephone, Television

Regional U.S. telephone operator, Windstream Corp., has reported a 24% jump in first-quarter profit, thanks to strong customer growth in its broadband and digital television businesses.

Windstream’s net income for the quarter rose to $123.7 million, or $0.27/share, from $99.9 million in the same three-month period a year earlier. Quarterly revenue came in at $811.7 million, up from $783.7 million in the first three months of 2007.

A survey of analysts by Thomson Financial had predicted net income of $0.25/share on revenue of $803.9 million.

In a conference call with Windstream CEO, Jeff Gardner, one analyst expressed surprise at the company’s unexpectedly strong performance, given that its core residential telephone business continued to suffer modest declines.

“It has to do with the fact we’re managing our business aggressively and not like a plain old telephone company,” Gardner responded, citing Windstream’s efforts to “reinvent” its sales and marketing model.

Windstream currently serves a total of 3.16 million local telephone customers, down from 3.33 million at the end of Q1/2007. In the first quarter of this year, the company lost some 42,000 local access lines, but added 40,000 high-speed internet subscribers and 15,000 digital TV users, driving the increase in profit.

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